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TEXT

Dates

Format a number or date as text — for labels and headers.

Difficulty

Amateur
Excel file

1What is it?

TEXT converts a number or date into text using a format code, so you can drop a formatted figure or month name inside a sentence or header. Remember: the result is text, so you can't do math on it.

2What it looks like

TEXT(value, format_code)
value
The number or date to format.
format_code
A format string in quotes, e.g. "$#,##0", "0.0%", "mmm yyyy".

3When you use it

  • Build a dynamic title: "Revenue — " & TEXT(date, "mmm yyyy").
  • Show a $-formatted figure inside a sentence.
  • Pad or format codes (leading zeros, fixed decimals).

4See it in action

Change the inputs — the formula and result update live. Prefer the real thing? Download the Excel file and open it in Excel.

Format the number in B2 and stitch it into a sentence.

C2
fx
="Cash: " & TEXT(B2, "$#,##0")Cash: $80,000
ABC
1FieldValueResult
2CashCash: $80,000

The lime cell holds the formula — click it (or any cell) to see its contents in the bar above, just like Excel. Edit the blue cells to watch it recompute.

5Common errors

Can't sum the resultTEXT returns text, not a number.

Fix: Keep the real number and apply cell formatting if you still need to calculate with it.

Wrong outputThe format code is off.

Fix: Match Excel's number-format codes (e.g. mmm for short month).

6Better functions & alternatives

  • Cell number formatting — Format the cell instead of converting — keeps the value numeric.
  • TEXTJOIN / CONCAT — For stitching several pieces of text together.

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